VIEW FROM THE STANDS: Liverpool must build on fantastic performance

Sep 15 2008 by Peter McCleery, Liverpool Daily Post

Liverpool FC's Robbie Keane _320

ON A DAY when West Ham had to cover up their sponsors, it would have felt like a stitch up if Liverpool had not collected three points from this fixture.

A glance at the team-sheet before kick-off had many Reds fans revising their prediction on the match due to two key men being missing, but in the end it was a fantastic team performance full of passion and determination.

One of the few disappointments from this one was Robbie Keane being dragged down by Vidic.

Had he made it past him and slotted home not only would it have eased the strain on 44,000 tickers, but would also have been a great way to break his duck.

United’s goal apart they offered very little threat.

On the back of Wayne Rooney’s performance for England in midweek the fear was that he could be the thorn in our side yet again; however he and his strike partners were excellently marshalled by our defence.

Javier Mascherano again showed that he is the man for the big occasion and those who say that Liverpool’s only great players are Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are just plain ignorant.

Albert Riera had an excellent debut and looked a natural, causing the United full-backs many problems.

He really could be the difference in home games against sides that inevitably shut up shop.

Another man in the same mould proved to be the match winner, and the way Ryan Babel almost effortlessly imposed himself on this game was joyful.

He does have the potential to be a real star and now the most important thing for him has to be to start games regularly.

The surprise for many was that he did not start ahead of Yossi Benayoun.